focus on basingstoke
John Burbedge interviews Rupert Batho, managing director of the Basingstoke business estate, Chineham Park, about ...
Smart buildings, upcycling and the changing face of modern business parks
Business and industrial parks underpin the local economies of many towns, and arguably Basingstoke relies on them more than most as they bring sustained employment and commercial prosperity to its relatively rural north Hampshire environs.
New digital technology trends – adoption of cloud, the Internet of Things, real-time data – are transforming the way that companies use office and retail space, and the values they require from their built environment. Differing workstyles are causing landlords to rethink the traditional ways of achieving income streams, delivering and managing space, and their provision of ‘smart’ buildings.
Many of Basingstoke’s 20-plus business estates have a fragmented ownership and nature, so we went to Chineham Park, fully owned and managed on-site by its investment partners Patrizia UK and Oaktree Capital Management, and asked Rupert Batho to provide his comprehensive overview of the current opportunities and challenges facing Basingstoke and business parks in general.
Think broadly, beyond Basingstoke
Chineham Park lies 2.5 miles northeast of Basingstoke town centre and is home to 60 companies employing more than 4,000 staff. Last year the business park completed over 200,000 sq ft of transactions – both expanding existing tenants and welcoming new clients – that highlighted the wide variety and international links of its occupiers.
“It isn’t the case that if you are in Basingstoke, you deal with companies from southern England. Ours is a truly global transactional offering,” said Batho.
“Some perceive Basingstoke as a small regional centre but that’s not the case when you actually look at what is happening on the ground with the status of companies based here – Sony, Motorola, Honeywell, Glory Global Solutions, Exertis, Level (3), Eli Lilly, De la Rue, Kier, Linde, Balfour Beatty, the AA, etc.” said Batho.
The core of the record leasings at Chineham Park in 2015 was expanding companies from their existing park offices into refurbished ‘upcycled’ space, often
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businessmag.co.uk Chineham Gate
leased for up to 10-15 years without any lease break, Batho noted.
“From an investment perspective, that income certainty provides stability – funding resilience for us and secure employment locally.”
A by-product of that stability is Chineham Park’s confidence in the launch of its new prestige 50,000 sq ft Chineham Gate ‘smart for business’ two-storey office space, ready for early 2017. It will provide a glazed frontage, double height reception, 1:10sqm occupancy, central courtyard and target an EPC of B and BREEAM ‘Very Good’.
“One advantage for occupiers of upcycled premises is that refurbished sites will often come with old-standard car parking ratios,” noted Batho. So occupiers get a brand-new product to suit their 21st century employee workstyles, and their staff get ample parking (Chineham Gate parking will be 1:255 sq ft).
Demand is leading to more frequent upcycling
Supply of good quality office space is constrained in the M3 and M4 corridors, as little is being developed and many office buildings are being redeveloped for residential, retail and mixed usage.
“We estimate that 10%-plus of Basingstoke’s office stock has been taken out over the past three years or so through demolition or conversion, and this is providing a more pure local demand-supply market.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2016
The wider occupier trends of remote- working and flexible workstyles is enabling more efficient use of corporate buildings, and office space requirements are smaller, Batho confirmed. “A 50,000 sq ft inquiry 10 years ago for 350 people is probably a 40,000 sq ft inquiry for 400 people today.”
The ‘Battle for Talent’ is also a key issue – and corporate premises can be part of a company’s resourcing armoury.
“This year we upcycled and brought to market Forest View, a 10-year-old building and let it to two occupiers in a heartbeat – Bibby Financial Services moving onto the park and Anoto, a Swedish-American software company. Both companies were
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